MugBar is here

TL;DR: I love my Ember Mug, and I wanted the lowest-friction companion app I could make for it. So I built MugBar.

The mug itself is great. I make a coffee, get distracted by work, and it is still warm when I remember it twenty minutes later. It quickly became one of those things I use every day.

But checking on it still meant finding and opening an app. This isn't a huge problem. It's just a small bit of friction, repeated a few times every day. After a while, I started thinking about what the companion app would look like if it asked almost nothing from me.

The app should come to me

That became the idea behind MugBar: I shouldn't need to go looking for my mug. Its temperature should be on the screens I already look at.

So MugBar puts it on the Home Screen, Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, Control Center, Apple Watch, and Siri. I can set a preset from a widget, check the temperature from my wrist, or ask Siri without interrupting what I am doing.

I also wanted it to answer a more useful question. A temperature is nice, but most of the time what I really want to know is: when can I drink this? MugBar estimates when the drink will reach my target and shows a simple countdown.

My favourite feature

The feature I like most is Live Activity autostart. When I pour a fresh drink, MugBar notices and starts the Live Activity by itself. The temperature and ready-in countdown are already on my Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. I don't need to remember to open anything.

There is another detail I really enjoy: macOS can also show my iPhone's Live Activities in the menu bar. When I'm working on my Mac, my mug is just up there. A quick glance tells me if it's ready. That small Apple ecosystem detail is a big part of why I enjoy having the app around.

Built the way I wanted to use it

MugBar is a native app and talks directly to the mug over Bluetooth. There is no account, no tracking, and no data collected. I didn't want another login between me and my coffee.

Most of the app is free, including presets, widgets, Control Center, Apple Watch, Siri, alerts, and a Live Activity you can start yourself. Full Access adds the ready-in countdown and automatic Live Activity. It's there for the people who want the most hands-off version of MugBar, and it helps me keep working on the app.

There was a lot of Bluetooth debugging, coffee reheating, and staring at temperature readings to get here. Now MugBar is on the App Store, and I'm very happy to finally share it.

If you try it, I would love to hear what you think.